靈魂觀與祖先崇拜禮儀密切相關。通過從祖先崇拜禮儀的角度重新考察漢代普遍流行的靈魂觀，我們將發現漢代人普遍信仰靈魂一元論，而非魯惟一、余英時、白瑞旭等學者所謂的靈魂二元論。靈魂一元論認為，人死後一元的靈魂並不歸天，而是歸地，與形體一起下葬墓地，居處墓室。因此，漢代人普遍相信埋葬墓地的死者「有知」，從而實踐厚葬而非薄葬，採納室墓而非槨墓，舉行墓祭而非寢／廟祭。為了舉行墓祭，西漢中晚期以後庶民普遍在墓地之上修建祭壇，「中者」和「富者」更在墓地祭壇之後修建祠堂，墓地之下修建祭堂。此外，漢代人還普遍認為靈魂的居所墓室，是靈魂在陰間的住宅（「陰宅」）。而墓門是陽間與陰間的通道。靈魂既可以通過墓門從陽間進入陰間，也可以通過墓門從陰間返回陽間。為了防止非正常死亡者的靈魂返回陽間、侵擾生者，東漢中後期的生者一般會請儀式專家書寫具有鎮守墓門功能的鎮墓文，從而把該靈魂鎮守在墓室／陰間中。

The concept of the soul is closely related to rites of ancestor worship. Through rethinking the prevalent concept of the soul during the Han dynasty from the perspective of rites of ancestor worship, we find that the people of the Han dynasty believed the soul was monistic, not dualistic, which has been advocated by Michael Loewe, Ying-shih Yü 余英時 and K. E. Brashier. Monism of the soul held the belief that the soul would descend into the earth rather than ascend into the sky. Due to this notion, the people of the Han dynasty generally believed that the dead were conscious, and thus practiced houzang 厚葬, shimu 室墓 and muji 墓祭 instead of bozang 薄葬, guomu 槨 墓 or miaoji 廟祭. The common masses, or shumin 庶民, built sacrificial altars above burial sites, whereas the middle and upper classes largely built ancestral temples behind the sacrificial altar or built sacrifice halls into the burial grounds. Moreover, the people of the Han dynasty also thought the tomb was the dwelling place of the soul in the underworld and the door of the tomb was the channel connecting the underworld and the world of the living; the soul could either descend into the underworld or ascend and return from the underworld via this channel. In order to prevent the soul of an unnatural death from coming up from the underworld and harming the living, the people of the Han dynasty would invite a ritual expert to pen tomb-guarding writings which possessed the ability to safeguard the door of the tomb, and thereby repress the soul in the tomb within the underworld.